Most doors used in construction today are of the "pre-hung" type. More particularly, the door and door frame are prefabricated and are sold as a unit which is then installed by the purchaser. A large percentage of these pre-hung doors are made entirely of wood and are installed as entry doors. While they are intended to function to exclude uninvited guests when locked, they are often inadequate for that purpose. Unfortunately, even when properly installed, it is relatively easy for an intruder, such as a burglar to gain entry to the dwelling or business merely by forcefully kicking the door or by prying it open with a crowbar in the general vicinity where the door lock and/or the dead bolt connect the door to the door jamb, causing the door jamb to separate and allowing the door to be opened.
In response to the above-described problem, numerous devices have been developed to reinforce a door jamb to aid in preventing forced entry or to repair a door jamb once forced entry has occurred.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,087 to Ghatak discloses a door jamb reinforcer where a brace plate is positioned internally along the depth of the door jamb adjacent the area of the bolt receiver or striker plate. The brace plate is held in place by reinforcing rods which are inserted into the door jamb internally along the face parallel to the striker plate. The reinforcing rods are preferably two-thirds the depth of the door frame and are secured by nuts. This device, while somewhat effective to prevent entry when a crow bar is used, is inadequate to prevent entry when additional force is applied, such as when a door is kicked in, as no structural connection is made between the door jamb and the structural portion of the wall.
Another attempt at reinforcing a door jamb is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,399 to Gehrke et al. which discloses an elongate L-shaped reinforcing plate having a recessed portion with an opening therethrough that is positioned to be in alignment with a door latch on a door. The plate includes a number of openings for receiving attachment screws. One side of the L-shaped plate is in alignment with the portion of the door jamb that includes the strike plate and the other side is connected to the door frame beneath the decorative molding or door casing. However, this type of jamb support is not without its drawbacks and deficiencies. More specifically, when a door jamb is retrofitted with this plate, it is necessary to completely remove the decorative molding in order to attach the plate. Then the molding must be re-attached with care being taken to avoid hitting the plate with the nail. Furthermore, when the molding is removed, it is often necessary to repaint not only that section, but the entire door frame.
Another door jamb reinforcement plate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,384 to Blankenship. The plate has an L-shaped cross section having first and second sides which are adapted to overlay the respective inside and front of a door jamb. The plate includes a number of punch-out tabs located along the length of the first side that may be selectively punched-out to facilitate alignment with the striker or bolt of each door lock. This reinforcement plate is made of sixteen-gauge, stainless steel and as a result, also requires removal of the molding in order to install the device.
With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a reinforcing plate for door jambs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb reinforcing plate which is universally adaptable to any door jamb.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb reinforcing plate which can be installed without having to remove the decorative molding from around the door frame.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a door jamb reinforcing plate which can be adapted to any door jamb using light duty tools.